A leading campaigner in the struggle to liberate East Timor has urged Ireland to extend its aid programme - due to lapse next year - in the fledgling democracy for at least another half-decade.
Mr Arnold Kohen, an American human rights activist and advisor to East Timor's Bishop Carlos Belo, said Ireland had "already been generous" to the territory, which won freedom from Indonesia through a UN-run ballot two years ago. However, he said, "it's vital that Irish support continues".
Mr Kohen was speaking yesterday in Dublin where he met the city's Archbishop, Cardinal Desmond Connell, and officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Ireland Aid.
"Irish development assistance is scheduled to expire at the end of 2002 and there is an internal discussion, I understand, as to what will come next," he said. "It's very important that we build on the work that's been done. The biggest mistake would be for donors to pull out too quickly." Calling for a further five-year investment, Mr Kohen said East Timor was still in a fragile economic state. Half of the homes destroyed by rampaging militia following the independent referendum have yet to be rebuilt. Three-quarters of the local population are unemployed.
East Timor's resistance party has won 55 seats in the new 88-member assembly, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed to approve constitutional changes. Fretilin, the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor, still has a solid majority in the constituent assembly. The Democratic Party, founded by leaders of the student movement, will be the second strongest party, with seven representatives. The Social Democratic party of the former governor of the territory, Mr Mario Carrascalao, won six seats.
